Civil War Soldiers Record Database

Halvor Olson was born about 1840. He joined the WI 15th Infantry, Company D. The men of the company called themselves the “Norway Wolf Hunters.” They were also known as the “Waupun Company” because so many of its members were from Waupun.

The army listed him as living in Mt. Horeb, Dane County, WI, age 21, and unmarried. He enlisted for three years on January 14, 1862 at Mt. Horeb, and mustered at Madison, WI on January 27, 1862 as a Private (Menig). Olson was sick in the hospital at Mississippi River Island No. 10 on April 6, 1862. He was absent in July 1862 with the Commissary train. On December 31, 1862, he suffered minor wounds and was missing in the Battle of Stones River, TN. He was sent to Nashville, TN; then to convalescent camp at Dennison, OH. Olson was assigned as an escort with the provision transport from Stevenson on October 13, 1863. He transferred to the 68th IN on February 1, 1864, but then transferred back on April 2, 1864. At the Battle of New Hope Church on May 27, 1864, he was wounded in his right leg. He was discharged from service from Harvey Hospital in Madison, WI on October 14, 1864 because of his wounds.

After the war, he returned to WI. He married a woman named Susan. Olson died on February 14, 1878 and is buried at the Lutheran cemetery in Modena, Buffalo County, WI. Susan filed a pension as his widow in 1880.

Sources: Series 1200: Records of Civil War Regiments, 1861-1900, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, boxes 76-6, 78-3; Regimental muster and descriptive rolls, 1861-1865, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, vol.20, p.62; Det Femtende Regiment, Wisconsin Frivillige [The Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers], Ole A. Buslett (Decorah, Iowa, 1894), p.453; Oberst Heg og hans gutter, Waldemar Ager, 1916, Fremad Pub. Co., Eau Claire, WI, p.302; Civil War Pension Index, Roll #T288_355; Headstones Provided for Deceased Union Civil War Veterans.